


Dream Easier

by Bhelryss



Series: FE Rarepair Week 2017 [7]
Category: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: F/F, au: sunstone and fluorspar survive, prompt: relax
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 11:33:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11713566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bhelryss/pseuds/Bhelryss
Summary: Fire Emblem "Rarepair" Week: Day SevenPrompt: RelaxShip: Selena/Vanessa





	Dream Easier

“Don’t you ever relax?” Complains one of her knights. It’s late, and the war is over, but she’s still out here in the training yard with her lance trying to be mindful of her footwork in the dark. The nightmares keep her up if she isn’t exhausted (and it’s not just the war, it was never just the war, but that’s always what people assume), but it’s not like this is well known information. Her knight doesn’t know any better than to ask that.

Vanessa shoots back an amused but flatly delivered, “No.” The knight does not laugh, like she should. The other half of the joke is not resolved. No answering, teasing, “ _ Aw, Vanessa, that’s so sad _ .” And the other knight to pull her away and back to the group or the barracks or out to the town...wasn’t there. That was a war ago, and she was a captain now besides. 

Now she only had knights who would smile to her face and keep their teasing for their fellows, not their superior officers. Letting the tip of her lance fall, and her weapon arm drop, Vanessa turned her face to the night sky and sighed. Perhaps it was time to put away her lance and turn in anyway. Nightmares or not. 

“Captain?” 

Pulling away from her thoughts, Vanessa nodded at her knight. “Don’t worry, I’m coming.” Shooing her onwards, Vanessa hefted her lance, mind elsewhere, and started to gather her things. It didn’t take very long, she’d never been particularly messy before, and the war had only made her more meticulous with her things. Rolling her shoulders, she closed her eyes for a brief moment, and then headed to put away what she could before she spent much of the night lying listlessly in the safety of her quarters.

Without even the soothing breathing of her knights to count, meticulously, until she fell asleep. 

There were people she could turn to, of course. Her sister, who’d held a command before, and still did. Syrene had been through the war too, seen the things they’d all seen. She would have been someone she could have turned to, after all. But Vanessa was, perhaps  _ too proud _ is an unkind way to phrase it, but she did not  _ wish _ to turn to her sister. And she was uncomfortable turning to others who’d had commands or had been handed them in the aftermath of the war, wary of losing respect because of the nightmares that had plagued her for so long (and then compounded, as her service had taken her through more crisis). 

Women in the army, in positions of power were rare. Pegasus knights were, of course, the exception, but still the trend stood. Outside of the pegasus knight leaders, still under the command of Hayden’s generals, who had she looked to for an example of women in positions of power and leadership? Selena, who’d almost sacrificed it all for her emperor. The Fluorspar was still who she looked to, for the most part. 

And, after their accidental confrontation, in wake of the bandits that made habits of crossing Grado’s borders and Frelia’s, they’d been writing back and forth. The letters were friendly, and even though sometimes Vanessa wished they’d be friendlier. Much friendlier, probably, than was entirely proper, perhaps. 

Still, she was a general, had outlived her emperor, her prince, many of her compatriots and comrades. Selena had seen everything Vanessa had, and likely more. She’d been who Vanessa had looked to, long before they’d ever met, and now they had a rapport. She’d written Selena weekly, speaking of everything from day to day, to asking for advice on leading slightly better, to dreams about the future. 

It was safe, Vanessa thought, to write her about this. They were friends by now, she thought. Selena always wrote back, and while weighing in and answering Vanessa’s letters, would also talk about her own days, ask Vanessa’s opinion on some things, and her own dreams of the future. Vanessa had kept each letter in a bundle in her desk in her quarters, and sometimes she wondered if it was pathetic to think wistfully of if they might meet in person more often.

Still, she puts her romantic daydreams aside to write, as yet another night stretches on, and nightmares of the war, and nightmares of Grado’s devastation, and other things from her career haunt her. (Her time in Patrol and Rescue, that all pegasus knights start out in, before either climbing the ranks or moving into other divisions, gave her enough material that she expects she will wake up from dreams of mudslides and cave-ins for years yet to come.) In the morning she sends it, feeling brave enough for the first time to send a letter signed with  _ Love, Vanessa _ . Now it is just a waiting game. 

The letter she receives back has no smell, though she doesn’t expect it to (this is no love letter from a court lady, true, but to her heart’s delight, Selena responds in kind:  _ Love, Selena _ ). It doesn’t have much written advice, but it does include an invitation. Lunch, and then dinner over two days in the next week. Face to face with the woman who’s featured in her dreams, since their meeting on the border, with the general who’s inspired her for years.

A response won’t reach Selena in time, but she does think to herself,  _ yes, I’m looking forward to that _ .

Selena’s temporary advice, before they get to their sit down, works well enough that Vanessa is not desperate enough to be up all hours, sweating through her restless night to earn a few hours of easy sleep, more than once or twice. She’s grateful, and more importantly, rested enough to do her job to the standards Vanessa expects of herself. 

She turns up to lunch dressed as though she is going on a first date. Too dressy, probably, but then again she is nervous. Her heartbeat races, her mind is clear, her palms are sweaty, as she enters the meeting place. A little restaurant in the capitol that is not fancy, and caters more frequently to knights off duty than courtiers. She’s been here before, but still she has no idea what to expect from this. From Selena.

“Vanessa!” Selena says, blonde hair shining blonder in the light from the window. “Come, sit.” Mouth dry, she nods jerkily, and slides into a seat across from the Fluorspar. “Now, don’t look so dire, don’t you relax?” She says, and for a moment Vanessa thinks it might be teasing.

“No.” is the scripted response, said before Vanessa can bite it back.

Surprisingly enough, Selena smiles, and makes a sympathetic sound. “That’s very sad, Captain.” But her eyes crinkle with the sincerity of the smile, and she reaches across the table to hold Vanessa’s hand, briefly. “It is no wonder you are so plagued.” 

It is a good sign, and Vanessa cannot help her own, answering smile, as something tight between her shoulders loosens. Emboldened, Vanessa leans forward, conspiratorially. “Would it be to forward of me to show you around the Capitol? Perhaps you could show me how to have a good time?”

Selena leans back in her seat and laughs, bright and musical. “After lunch, I believe I would indeed like that. Consider it a date.” 

Excitement thrumming beneath her skin, Vanessa prepares herself to enjoy her day. And possibly her tomorrow, if things went well. 

_ A date! _


End file.
